Roman Religion (beliefs, hell, mission, pagan, worship)

[Rex]

Can you name a few roman religions and a little about them?

[EUCHARIST]

Roman Catholic ... which I am Catholic ... as you can tell by my S/N

[Jaymes]

Roman? Well, I suppose the Roman pantheon would qualify...

[Druidus]

Hellenism. The official Roman religion, before Catholicism. Want info?

Go to www.religioustolerance.com and look up Hellenism. I would, but Norton doesn't like that site...

Norton Internet Security has blocked access to this restricted site.

Site: http://www.religioustolerance.org/

Blocked categories: Occult/New Age

[linwood]

Wasn`t Mithraism pretty popular back around the first century?

[No*s]

Originally Posted by Rex_Admin

Can you name a few roman religions and a little about them?

I assume you mean Roman religion before the advent of Christ.

Rome divided religion into two classes, religio and superstitio. The religio was the state-sponsored belief system. This worship corresponded roughly to that of the imperial cult and the worship of state sponsored gods. Augustus, for instance, firmly believed that part of Rome's decline was due to the fact that the temples of Jupiter (who had been merged with the Greek Zeus) had been neglected. As a result, he refurbished these temples in order to renew the covenant with the gods.

This covenant is part of a system, wherein ancient religions felt their god/gods made a covenant with them. This usually involved special services in exchange for worship. Thus, Roman religion wasn't chiefly concerned with the afterlife but with propitiating the gods. Those with whom the gods were pleased were blessed in life.

Another facet of the imperial cult is that it included emperor worship. This happens also to be the most famous part of the religio of Rome as well, because it was this that got the Christians into trouble. Every person was required to venerate their emperor. At first, this was shunned then they started deifying the emperor post-humously, and finally it was granted to them while still alive.

The religio wasn't optional. The propitiation of the gods was neccessary for the continuance of the state. If the people didn't propitiate the gods, then the gods wouldn't be pleased, and that would lead to the collpase of the Roman state. Likewise, participation in the imperial cult was mandatory. It was a show of submission and loyalty to the emperor. There was no reason, in the Roman mind, to deny such a show. In effect, contradicting either of these two aspects of religio endangered the state, and as such, was criminal.

The second aspect of Roman religion was the superstitio. The superstitio was a private set of beliefs. Numerous sects and groups existed within the Roman Empire, most of them foriegn. There were Christians, the Mithraic religion (which later took prominence before the conversion of the Empire), Druids, the Cult of Isis, and the various Greek mysteries (such as the one dedicated to Demeter). This isn't an exhaustive list, but it gives an idea to the diversity.

The various superstitiones were tolerated so long as they didn't interfere with the good of society at large. Christianity, for instance, ran into problems because it refused to participate in the religio. It was, thus, illegal. Druidism was a foreign religion that Rome perceived as a threat to its political order, and so it was also persecuted within the Empire. The Cult of Isis was likewise considered a threat to "decent" society. These belief systems, because they were threatening in some fashion were persecuted. They were illegal superstitiones.

Roman religion was in flux, and later, Mithra assumed prominence. Mithra was a Persian sun-god. His superstitio gradually found its way to the status of religio. Later texts of Mithra bear striking resemblances to Christianity. He was born in a cave, died and rose from the grave, and so on. Most of our references, though, are taken from not long before the conversion of Constantine: when the Empire was about to convert.

This division continued, though, until the end of the Empire. Starting with the Emperor Theodosius, the status of religio with the old paganism assuming the role of superstitio. Its temples, though, had always been run by the state and were owned by it. Theodosius latched onto that, and all the Temples were closed. After the fall of the Western Empire, the Eastern Empire continued. Muslims within the Empire's borders were allowed to worship Islam, while Christianity was the official religion, and it remained this way up until the fall of the Empire to the Turks in the 15th century. The Crusaders were shocked, as an aside, to find Mosques in Constantinople. This duality reminds me a lot of religio and superstitio, but I don't know how much I can accredit to the lineage.

That's almost all I can remember off the top of my head, but there are lots of other interesting things to look up (a couple of the remaining things would be the Vestal Flame and Hellenistic philosophers...whose philosophies doubled as a religion that really wasn't either religio or superstitio).

[No*s]

Originally Posted by Druidus

Hellenism. The official Roman religion, before Catholicism. Want info?

Go to www.religioustolerance.com and look up Hellenism. I would, but Norton doesn't like that site...

Actually, Roman religion was bigger than that. The basic structure was distinct from Hellenism, and this caused more than a few conflicts in Rome (like the time they expelled the Greeks). It had a particular structure unique to it, and Hellenism was largely forced to operate as superstitio...except for the philosophers who operated outside of that. The Greek Mysteries certainly took up a prominent and supporting role, though .

[No*s]

.......

I just realized that I did it again. I posted in another religion's forum. I hope nobody is offended .

[Green Gaia]

Originally Posted by No*s

.......

I just realized that I did it again. I posted in another religion's forum. I hope nobody is offended .

Not at all, in fact I encourage people to post in other religion's forums, as long as you're not there to cause trouble or debate.

[No*s]

Originally Posted by Maize

Not at all, in fact I encourage people to post in other religion's forums, as long as you're not there to cause trouble or debate.

Thanks Maize . I'll still be very hesitant, though.